Interview with Meaghan Blanchard

MEAGHAN BLANCHARD, a vibrant red-headed singer-songwriter, grew up in the rolling hills of beautiful Prince Edward Island. Although a shy and quiet child, Meaghan gravitated towards music with a natural ability to write & hum her own tunes at a very young age. As she grew up, Meaghan’s natural vocal ability had her front and center of a number of community gatherings, children’s choirs and kitchen parties in her home town of Hunter River. Although Meaghan’s shyness followed her throughout her school years, she found comfort in logging away her hopes and dreams in small journals that she kept tucked into her desks. Tired of letting her shyness get in the way of her musical dreams, Meaghan turned to her grandmother Glenda - a Country singer who performed most weekends in the rural halls of PEI - for advice. Grammy Glenda’s words still have meaning to her to this day: “Look for the person in the audience who is looking like they’re having a bad day and sing to them; make em’ smile. It’ll take your fear away, and you never know what that could mean to somebody”. It was by watching her grandmother’s performances that Meaghan also came to know and love some of the greatest female country singers of all time: Tammy Wynette, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. They have all had a significant influence on her music even to this day. Meaghan recorded her first full length collection of songs with producer John Keane (R.E.M., Nancy Griffith, B52′s) in Athens, Georgia. The album She’s Gonna Fly was released in July 2013.